Proposed Information Collection Request for Water Quality Standards Regulation (Renewal), 48163-48164 [2024-12302]
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 109 / Wednesday, June 5, 2024 / Notices
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30 days from the date of this notice.
The Commission strongly encourages
electronic filing. Please file comments
using the Commission’s eFiling system
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FERCOnline.aspx. Commenters can
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to: Debbie-Anne A. Reese, Acting
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Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room
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Submissions sent via any other carrier
must be addressed to: Debbie-Anne A.
Reese, Acting Secretary, Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins
Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
The first page of any filing should
include docket number P–2853–073.
Any questions regarding this notice
may be directed to Ingrid Brofman at
(202) 502–8347 or Ingrid.brofman@
ferc.gov.
Dated: May 30, 2024.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024–12323 Filed 6–4–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[EPA–HQ–OW–2011–0465; FRL–12012–01–
OW]
Proposed Information Collection
Request for Water Quality Standards
Regulation (Renewal)
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is planning to submit an
information collection request (ICR),
‘‘Water Quality Standards Regulation
(Renewal)’’ (EPA ICR No. 0988.16, OMB
Control No. 2040–0049) to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and approval in accordance with
the Paperwork Reduction Act. Before
doing so, the EPA is soliciting public
comments on specific aspects of the
proposed information collection as
described below. This ICR renews the
Water Quality Standards (WQS)
Regulation ICR, which is currently
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:50 Jun 04, 2024
Jkt 262001
approved through February 28, 2025.
An agency may not conduct, or sponsor
and a person is not required to respond
to a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on
or before August 5, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
referencing Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–
OW–2011–0465, online using
www.regulations.gov (our preferred
method), by email to ow-docket@
epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA Docket
Center, Environmental Protection
Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC
20460.
EPA’s policy is that all comments
received will be included in the public
docket without change including any
personal information provided unless
the comment includes profanity, threats,
information claimed to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other
information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kendall Scarlett, Office of Water, Office
of Science and Technology, Standards
and Health Protection Division, (4305T),
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC
20460; telephone number: 202–564–
1465; email address: scarlett.kendall@
epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Supporting documents which explain in
detail the information that the EPA
would be collecting are available in the
public docket for this Information
Collection Request (ICR) (Docket ID No.
EPA–HQ–OW–2011–0465). The docket
can be viewed online at
www.regulations.gov or in person at the
EPA Docket Center, WJC West, Room
3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW,
Washington, DC. The telephone number
for the Docket Center is 202–566–1744.
For additional information about the
EPA’s public docket, visit https://
www.epa.gov/dockets.
Pursuant to section 3506(c)(2)(A) of
the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), the
EPA is soliciting comments and
information to enable it to: (i) evaluate
whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
(ii) evaluate the accuracy of the agency’s
estimate of the burden of the proposed
collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and
assumptions used; (iii) enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and, (iv)
PO 00000
Frm 00022
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
48163
minimize the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to
respond, including through the use of
appropriate automated electronic,
mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of responses. The
EPA will consider the comments
received and amend the proposed WQS
Regulation ICR as appropriate. The final
WQS Regulation ICR package will then
be submitted to OMB for review and
approval. At that time, the EPA will
issue another Federal Register notice to
announce the submission of the WQS
Regulation ICR to OMB and the
opportunity to submit additional
comments to OMB.
Abstract: Water quality standards
(WQS) under the Clean Water Act
(hereafter referred to as ‘‘the Act’’) are
provisions of State,1 Tribal,2 or Federal
law which consist of designated uses for
waters of the United States, water
quality criteria to protect those uses,
and antidegradation requirements. WQS
are established to protect public health
or welfare, protect and enhance the
quality of water, and serve the purposes
of the Act. Such standards serve the
dual purposes of establishing the water
quality goals for water bodies and
serving as the regulatory basis for the
establishment of water quality-based
treatment controls and strategies beyond
technology-based levels of treatment
required by sections 301(b) and 306 of
the Act. The WQS regulation, consisting
of 40 CFR part 131, establishes the
framework for states and authorized
Tribes to adopt standards, and for the
EPA to review and approve or
disapprove them.
This ICR renews the WQS Regulation
ICR, OMB control no. 2040–0049,
expiration date February 28, 2025. This
ICR renewal describes the estimated
burden for states and authorized Tribes
associated with the information
collections to implement the
requirements of 40 CFR part 131 (Water
Quality Standards) and required to
obtain or retain benefits (e.g., relaxed
regulatory requirements) under the
WQS regulation. This WQS Regulation
ICR also covers periodic requests for
voluntary WQS information from states
and Tribes to ensure efficient and
effective administration of the WQS
1 ‘‘States’’ in the EPA’s WQS Regulation and in
this document includes the 50 states, the District of
Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
2 ‘‘Tribes’’ in this document refers to federally
recognized Tribes and ‘‘authorized Tribes’’ refers to
those federally recognized Indian Tribes with
authority to administer a CWA WQS program.
E:\FR\FM\05JNN1.SGM
05JNN1
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
48164
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 109 / Wednesday, June 5, 2024 / Notices
program and further cooperative
federalism.
At this time, the EPA is working to
consolidate the two burden estimates of
the activities that were previously split
50/50 between this WQS Regulation ICR
and a separate NPDES Program ICR,
OMB Control Number 2040–0004. These
activities are the Great Lakes
Antidegradation Demonstrations and
Great Lakes Regulatory Relief Requests.
The EPA anticipates that by the time
this WQS Regulation ICR renewal is
finalized, the full reporting burden for
both activities would have been
transferred and consolidated within the
NPDES Program ICR. Therefore, the EPA
is not reporting burden estimates for
these two activities in this WQS
Regulation ICR renewal.
Furthermore, this WQS Regulation
ICR does not include estimates for the
burden and costs of activities related to
the changes to protect Tribal Reserved
Rights the EPA made to the Water
Quality Standards Regulation, 40 CFR
part 131, effective on June 3, 2024 (see
89 FR 35717, May 2, 2024). There is a
separate ICR covering those additional
activities to protect Tribal Reserved
Rights, see OMB control number 2040–
0309, EPA ICR 2700.02.Given the
uncertainties in the burden and costs
estimates in that separate ICR, the EPA
expects to revise the estimates based on
experience gained from implementing
the regulation changes to protect Tribal
Reserved Rights. The EPA then expects
to consolidate that revision of the
burden and costs related to the
additional activities to protect Tribal
Reserved Rights into a future renewal of
the WQS Regulation ICR. Therefore, in
the future, the EPA anticipates having
one WQS Regulation ICR that includes
the current separate ICR for the
additional activities to protect Tribal
Reserved Rights.
Form Numbers: None.
Respondents/affected entities:
Potential respondents to this ICR
include: the 50 States, the District of
Columbia, five territories, authorized
Tribes with the EPA-approved water
quality standards (49 Tribes as of May
2024), and a total of 18 additional Tribal
respondents over the three-year
duration of the ICR. The total number of
potential respondents is thus 123.
Respondent’s obligation to respond:
Some collections in this ICR are
mandatory, some are required to obtain
or retain benefits pursuant to the WQS
Regulation, and some are voluntary.
Estimated number of respondents:
123.
Frequency of response: Variable (once
every three years, on occasion or as
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:50 Jun 04, 2024
Jkt 262001
necessary, or only once) depending on
type of information collected.
Total estimated burden: 484,322
hours per year. Burden is defined at 5
CFR 1320.03(b).
Total estimated cost: $24,773,070 in
labor costs and $345,180 in operations
and maintenance costs per year. There
are no annualized capital costs.
Change in estimates: An increase in
13,560 hours in estimated respondent
burden compared with the currently
approved ICR. The increase reflects the
burden hours associated with the
addition of three Tribal respondents for
the information collections on
‘‘Administering State and Tribal WQS’’
and ‘‘Voluntary WQS Program
Information’’. See Supporting Statement
in the docket for more information.
Deborah G. Nagle,
Director, Office of Science and Technology,
Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 2024–12302 Filed 6–4–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[EPA–HQ–OAR–2016–0731; FRL–11980–01–
OAR]
Proposed Information Collection
Request; Revision; Changes to EPA’s
Natural Gas STAR Program
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is planning to submit a
revision information collection request
(ICR), ‘‘Changes to EPA’s Natural Gas
STAR Program’’ (EPA ICR No. 2547.01,
OMB Control No. 2060–0722) to the
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and approval in
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act. Before doing so, EPA is
soliciting public comments on specific
aspects of the proposed information
collection as described below.
Specifically, EPA is proposing to
remove all program partner reporting
elements from the ICR, leaving the ‘‘Oil
and Gas Equipment and Service
Providers Directory’’ as the only
component covered under this ICR. This
revision is a proposed extension of the
ICR titled ‘‘EPA’s Methane Challenge
and Natural Gas STAR Programs,’’
which is currently approved through
December 31, 2024. This notice allows
for 60 days for public comments.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on
or before August 5, 2024.
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00023
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Submit your comments,
referencing Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–
OAR–2016–0731 online using
www.regulations.gov (our preferred
method), by email to a-and-r-Docket@
epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA Docket
Center, Environmental Protection
Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC
20460.
EPA’s policy is that all comments
received will be included in the public
docket without change including any
personal information provided, unless
the comment includes profanity, threats,
information claimed to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other
information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Andrew Meluch, Office of Atmospheric
Programs, Climate Change Division,
(6207A), Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW,
Washington, DC 20460; telephone
number: (202) 564–4762; email address:
meluch.andrew@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This
revision is a proposed extension of the
ICR titled ‘‘EPA’s Methane Challenge
and Natural Gas STAR Programs,’’
which is currently approved through
December 31, 2024. An agency may not
conduct or sponsor and a person is not
required to respond to a collection of
information unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number.
This notice allows 60 days for public
comments. Supporting documents,
which explain in detail the information
that the EPA will be collecting, are
available in the public docket for this
ICR. The docket can be viewed online
at www.regulations.gov or in person at
the EPA Docket Center, WJC West,
Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW,
Washington, DC. The telephone number
for the Docket Center is 202–566–1744.
For additional information about EPA’s
public docket, visit https://www.epa.gov/
dockets.
Pursuant to section 3506(c)(2)(A) of
the PRA, EPA is soliciting comments
and information to enable it to: (i)
evaluate whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the
functions of the Agency, including
whether the information will have
practical utility; (ii) evaluate the
accuracy of the Agency’s estimate of the
burden of the proposed collection of
information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
(iii) enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (iv) minimize the burden
of the collection of information on those
ADDRESSES:
E:\FR\FM\05JNN1.SGM
05JNN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48163-48164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12302]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OW-2011-0465; FRL-12012-01-OW]
Proposed Information Collection Request for Water Quality
Standards Regulation (Renewal)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to
submit an information collection request (ICR), ``Water Quality
Standards Regulation (Renewal)'' (EPA ICR No. 0988.16, OMB Control No.
2040-0049) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and
approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. Before doing
so, the EPA is soliciting public comments on specific aspects of the
proposed information collection as described below. This ICR renews the
Water Quality Standards (WQS) Regulation ICR, which is currently
approved through February 28, 2025. An agency may not conduct, or
sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 5, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2011-0465, online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred method), by
email to [email protected], or by mail to: EPA Docket Center,
Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania
Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460.
EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the
public docket without change including any personal information
provided unless the comment includes profanity, threats, information
claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kendall Scarlett, Office of Water,
Office of Science and Technology, Standards and Health Protection
Division, (4305T), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania
Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-564-1465; email
address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supporting documents which explain in detail
the information that the EPA would be collecting are available in the
public docket for this Information Collection Request (ICR) (Docket ID
No. EPA-HQ-OW-2011-0465). The docket can be viewed online at
www.regulations.gov or in person at the EPA Docket Center, WJC West,
Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The telephone
number for the Docket Center is 202-566-1744. For additional
information about the EPA's public docket, visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
Pursuant to section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act
(PRA), the EPA is soliciting comments and information to enable it to:
(i) evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility; (ii)
evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (iii) enhance the quality, utility,
and clarity of the information to be collected; and, (iv) minimize the
burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond,
including through the use of appropriate automated electronic,
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms
of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of
responses. The EPA will consider the comments received and amend the
proposed WQS Regulation ICR as appropriate. The final WQS Regulation
ICR package will then be submitted to OMB for review and approval. At
that time, the EPA will issue another Federal Register notice to
announce the submission of the WQS Regulation ICR to OMB and the
opportunity to submit additional comments to OMB.
Abstract: Water quality standards (WQS) under the Clean Water Act
(hereafter referred to as ``the Act'') are provisions of State,\1\
Tribal,\2\ or Federal law which consist of designated uses for waters
of the United States, water quality criteria to protect those uses, and
antidegradation requirements. WQS are established to protect public
health or welfare, protect and enhance the quality of water, and serve
the purposes of the Act. Such standards serve the dual purposes of
establishing the water quality goals for water bodies and serving as
the regulatory basis for the establishment of water quality-based
treatment controls and strategies beyond technology-based levels of
treatment required by sections 301(b) and 306 of the Act. The WQS
regulation, consisting of 40 CFR part 131, establishes the framework
for states and authorized Tribes to adopt standards, and for the EPA to
review and approve or disapprove them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ ``States'' in the EPA's WQS Regulation and in this document
includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
\2\ ``Tribes'' in this document refers to federally recognized
Tribes and ``authorized Tribes'' refers to those federally
recognized Indian Tribes with authority to administer a CWA WQS
program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This ICR renews the WQS Regulation ICR, OMB control no. 2040-0049,
expiration date February 28, 2025. This ICR renewal describes the
estimated burden for states and authorized Tribes associated with the
information collections to implement the requirements of 40 CFR part
131 (Water Quality Standards) and required to obtain or retain benefits
(e.g., relaxed regulatory requirements) under the WQS regulation. This
WQS Regulation ICR also covers periodic requests for voluntary WQS
information from states and Tribes to ensure efficient and effective
administration of the WQS
[[Page 48164]]
program and further cooperative federalism.
At this time, the EPA is working to consolidate the two burden
estimates of the activities that were previously split 50/50 between
this WQS Regulation ICR and a separate NPDES Program ICR, OMB Control
Number 2040-0004. These activities are the Great Lakes Antidegradation
Demonstrations and Great Lakes Regulatory Relief Requests. The EPA
anticipates that by the time this WQS Regulation ICR renewal is
finalized, the full reporting burden for both activities would have
been transferred and consolidated within the NPDES Program ICR.
Therefore, the EPA is not reporting burden estimates for these two
activities in this WQS Regulation ICR renewal.
Furthermore, this WQS Regulation ICR does not include estimates for
the burden and costs of activities related to the changes to protect
Tribal Reserved Rights the EPA made to the Water Quality Standards
Regulation, 40 CFR part 131, effective on June 3, 2024 (see 89 FR
35717, May 2, 2024). There is a separate ICR covering those additional
activities to protect Tribal Reserved Rights, see OMB control number
2040-0309, EPA ICR 2700.02.Given the uncertainties in the burden and
costs estimates in that separate ICR, the EPA expects to revise the
estimates based on experience gained from implementing the regulation
changes to protect Tribal Reserved Rights. The EPA then expects to
consolidate that revision of the burden and costs related to the
additional activities to protect Tribal Reserved Rights into a future
renewal of the WQS Regulation ICR. Therefore, in the future, the EPA
anticipates having one WQS Regulation ICR that includes the current
separate ICR for the additional activities to protect Tribal Reserved
Rights.
Form Numbers: None.
Respondents/affected entities: Potential respondents to this ICR
include: the 50 States, the District of Columbia, five territories,
authorized Tribes with the EPA-approved water quality standards (49
Tribes as of May 2024), and a total of 18 additional Tribal respondents
over the three-year duration of the ICR. The total number of potential
respondents is thus 123.
Respondent's obligation to respond: Some collections in this ICR
are mandatory, some are required to obtain or retain benefits pursuant
to the WQS Regulation, and some are voluntary.
Estimated number of respondents: 123.
Frequency of response: Variable (once every three years, on
occasion or as necessary, or only once) depending on type of
information collected.
Total estimated burden: 484,322 hours per year. Burden is defined
at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).
Total estimated cost: $24,773,070 in labor costs and $345,180 in
operations and maintenance costs per year. There are no annualized
capital costs.
Change in estimates: An increase in 13,560 hours in estimated
respondent burden compared with the currently approved ICR. The
increase reflects the burden hours associated with the addition of
three Tribal respondents for the information collections on
``Administering State and Tribal WQS'' and ``Voluntary WQS Program
Information''. See Supporting Statement in the docket for more
information.
Deborah G. Nagle,
Director, Office of Science and Technology, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 2024-12302 Filed 6-4-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P